


Stay in my arms if you dare (or must I imagine you there)

by Estelle



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Bodyguard Romance, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-07 06:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16848958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estelle/pseuds/Estelle
Summary: Bucky doesn’t exactly think that being a bodyguard is his dream job, but after leaving the military, it was a good way to make money without having to go through a lot of education and training. When he gets hired by Howard Stark to protect his son, he thinks that that will be easy enough.Turns out that it isn't, especially not once feelings are involved.





	Stay in my arms if you dare (or must I imagine you there)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chef_Geekier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chef_Geekier/gifts).



> I gotta admit, I struggled a bit with which prompt to choose. I went with _After leaving the military, Bucky becomes a bodyguard. Howard Stark hires him to protect Tony at college. Shenanigans ensue. (AU, but could be MCU-ish.)_ in the end.  
> Hope you'll like it, and Happy Holidays!
> 
> Big thanks to my very own [Tony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronEyes/pseuds/IronEyes) for the encouragement, and making sure I don't miss the check-in!  
> (And noooo, I did not google "songs from the bodyguard musical" to find a title, what are you talking about?! XD)

Bucky doesn’t exactly think that being a bodyguard is his dream job, but after leaving the military, it was a good way to make money without having to go through a lot of education and training. When he gets hired by Howard Stark to protect his son, he thinks that that will be easy enough. It’s just living with some college kid, seeing that he does his homework, and keeping him out of trouble at parties, right? Sure, Howard has told him that Tony had been kidnapped before, but he has made it sound like a minor inconvenience, so surely it wasn’t that bad? Bucky is confident that he will handle the job just fine.  
What he hasn’t counted on, however, is Tony himself.  
He is the exact opposite of what Buck expected from a college student. Sure, he goes to parties sometimes and flirts left and right, but he’s also super smart and aces all his classes, hell he build a robot just for fun, and more importantly, he is the kindest and most caring person Bucky has ever met. Tony works hard not to show it and be aloof and suave in public, but Bucky knows that he donates to the animal shelter, and helps out with improving the prostheses for the patients at the children's hospital, and sometimes pays the rent for Pepper and Natasha who live down the hall and can’t always afford it, and he makes hot cocoa for Bucky in the morning even though he only drinks coffee himself, and a million other little things that Bucky feels privileged to know about Tony.  
And then there’s also the fact that he’s funny and sassy and has the most infectious laugh Bucky ever heard.  
So really, it was inevitable that he falls for him.  
Which of course leaves him with a big problem.  
Not only does he know that he could never be good enough to attract the attention of someone as brilliant and amazing as Tony, there is also the little fact that he is his freaking bodyguard, and he really can’t just put that aside, even if Tony would ever look his way twice.  
So he does the only thing he can do. He pines.

They are invited for tea (or coffee, in Tony’s case) at Pepper and Natasha’s place, and Tony and Pepper are currently discussing some business model that Bucky only understands half of, but he loves the way Tony’s eyes light up and bis hands fly through the air when he gets really passionate about something.  
Natasha watches him with a knowing smirk, then comes to stand next to him at the kitchen counter where Bucky is waiting for the kettle to boil to make more tea.  
“You should tell him”, she quietly says in Russian, and Bucky rolls his eyes. She’s been saying that to him for weeks, and he replies with the same thing every time.  
“How would that help anyone? He’s not interested. And I’d like to keep my job, thank you very much.”  
Natasha sighs. “You are _frustrating_. I’ve had enough of this! Hey, Tony?” Before Bucky can stop her, she switches to English and asks sweetly: “Don’t you think it’s hot when Bucky speaks Russian?”  
“What?” Tony looks up and blushes furiously, which Bucky finds adorable, but he also knows that Tony is embarrassed and uncomfortable, which he doesn’t like.  
He doesn’t know how to make it better, though, and before he can say anything, Pepper chimes in, amusement clear in her voice: “Oh, he totally thinks so! He told me so himself!”  
“What?” Bucky is sure that he is now blushing too.  
Tony furiously shakes his head though, looking more uncomfortable by the second. “Oh my god, Pepper, no! I didn’t… that wasn’t… I’ve got to go!”  
He storms out of the flat, and because he is his bodyguard, Bucky has little choice but to follow him, even though it’s clear that Tony wants to be alone right now.  
He catches up with him in front of their apartment.  
Tony frowns, seeming torn between emotions that Bucky can’t read. “What do you want?”  
“It’s literally my job to follow you”, Bucky explains even though he would have done it regardless.  
Tony looks crestfallen for a second, then he puts on his smile, but Bucky knows that it’s his showman smile, not a real one, and it hurts to see it directed at him, but he supposes he doesn’t deserve any better.  
“Your job. Yes, of course.” Tony nods. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take a shower.”

The next morning, when Bucky sees his hot cocoa as usual, he is a little relieved, but that doesn’t last long, because Tony seems distant, hardly talking to him while getting ready for class, and Bucky hates it. He had thought that they had become friends, or at least fallen into easy camaraderie, but maybe even that had been his wishful thinking. Maybe he should just accept that he is just the bodyguard after all, and Tony only puts up with him because he has to, not because he actually likes having him around.  
They go to class, and then in the evening, Tony decides he wants to go to a party. Bucky isn’t very happy about it, because he hates seeing Tony get drunk and flirt with other people, but it’s not like he can do anything about it.  
At the party, which is noisy, and full of drunk people, and everything Bucky hates, Tony doesn’t seem particularly happy to be there, wandering aimlessly through the rooms, not speaking to anyone, or even drinking something, and Bucky is about to suggest that they go home, when a tiny blonde girl blocks his path, smiles at him suggestively and twirls a strand of hair around her finger. Bucky knows that it’s supposed to be seductive, but she is so far from being his type, that he almost laughs.  
By the time he has made it clear that he really, really isn’t interested, because he is really, really gay, he has lost sight of Tony, which is _not good_.  
Panicking slightly, which he really shouldn’t in his line of work, he pushes through the strangers, and finally, after a few agonising minutes, finds Tony at the bar.  
“There you are”, he breathes, relief cursing through him, and Tony turns, and smiles widely.  
“Bucky!”, he exclaims, takes a step forward and promptly trips over his own feet.  
Instinctively, Bucky catches him, which brings them very close together.  
Tony is still smiling, and Bucky frowns. “Maybe we should go home?”  
“Home. With you. Yes, excellent idea. Let’s do that!” Tony seems very happy, and Bucky is confused. How the hell did he get this drunk that fast?  
Fortunately, their apartment isn’t far, but it still takes them a while, because Bucky has to half-carry a stumbling Tony.  
Finally at home, Tony locks the door and turns to Bucky, who has stayed close because he doesn’t want him to fall over.  
“Hi”, he breathes and smiles up at Bucky, who is slightly confused but can’t help the way his heart skips at the sight of Tony’s smile.  
“Hi”, he says back helplessly, and Tony steps closer, placing his hands on Bucky’s hips.  
“You’re here”, he states then, and Bucky frowns a little.  
“I… am”, he confirms uncertainly, and before he can do anything else, Tony gets up on his tiptoes and kisses him.  
Bucky revels in that feeling for a long moment, starting to kiss back, until it hits him that Tony is drunk out of his mind.  
Gently, he pulls back, even though it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done. “Tony, wait, stop, please!”  
Tony blinks up at him, looking adorably confused. “What, why? No!”  
He tries to kiss Bucky again, but he turns his head so that the kiss lands on his cheek, which isn’t any less nice.  
Tony giggles, and continues to place kisses on his cheek and jaw, and it’s getting really hard to think with Tony pressing against him like this.  
“Tony, darling, stop!” He can’t help the endearment slipping out, but he hopes that Tony won’t remember that in the morning. “You’re drunk. We shouldn’t do this!” He tries to sound firm, but he’s not sure how successful he is.  
Tony finally pull back, though. “You don’t want to?” He looks sad and hurt, and Bucky’s heart aches, but he sighs.  
“I don’t… No, Tony, I don’t want to. Not like this.” It’s hard to say, because there’s nothing that he wants more than Tony, but he just can’t take advantage of his drunk state like this. He would never be able to live with himself if he let Tony do something he will thoroughly regret once he’s sober.  
Tony looks at him like he’s been slapped, then he nods. “Okay, yeah. Sorry. I’ll go to bed.”  
He stumbles to his room, and Bucky looks after him, feeling completely devastated.

When the next morning comes, Bucky hasn’t slept much, dreading having to face Tony, torn between thinking that it was better if he didn’t remember, and hoping that he did so that they can clear the air, and yes, he admits it, also replaying the scene of Tony kissing him in his head about a million times.  
He decides that he can’t put off the inevitable forever, and finally goes to the kitchen, where Tony is already brooding over a cup of coffee, looking like he hasn’t slept much either.  
“Morning”, Bucky greets tentatively, and Tony looks up warily.  
“Hey”, he says slowly, and swallows. “Look, about last night...”  
So here they go. Bucky sighs. “So you remember?”  
Tony shrugs. “I wasn’t that drunk.” He looks at his coffee guiltily. “I was… I saw you flirting with this girl and I...” He rubs a hand through his hair. “I was jealous, and I thought, if I pretended to be drunk, maybe you’d take me home, and you did, of course you did, it’s your fucking job, and I should really get it into my head that that’s why you’re here, and not because you like me. And I’m sorry. I probably made you all kinds of uncomfortable, I mean, _of course_ you don’t want me, god I’m so stupid...”  
He trails off and Bucky is at a loss for words for a minute. Tony said a lot of things there, and Bucky doesn’t know where to begin.  
“I didn’t flirt with that girl”, is what he decides to clarify first, and when Tony gives him a “yeah, right” kind of look, he explains: “I’m gay.”  
“Oh.” Tony looks surprised for a second, then he drops his head into his hands. “Oh great. So you don’t only not want me because I’m a guy, but you don’t want _me_ specifically. Awesome.”  
Bucky hates the self-deprecating tone Tony is using, and he decides, fuck it, he can’t have Tony thinking that he’s anything less than absolutely brilliant and breathtaking and worthy of everything the universe has to offer.  
“I never said I don’t want you”, he says firmly, and Tony looks up.  
“Yes, you did! Yesterday! I was there. I remember it. It was humiliating.” He sounds sad and embarrassed and Bucky desperately wants to make it better.  
“No, I said I don’t want you _like this_. Drunk. When you don’t know what you’re doing and will regret it in the morning. In general, though, of course I want you. Tony, you’re the most amazing person I ever met. You’re brilliant and smart and funny and kind and beautiful and a million other things, and I never dared hope that you would want me too.”  
Laying his feelings out like this is terrifying, but worth it when he sees the look of wonder on Tony’s face.  
“I… you… Am I dreaming? You really think that about me?”, he stutters, blushing brilliantly, and Bucky smiles.  
“Tony, sweetheart, how can you even doubt that I’m completely in love with you?”  
A second after he has said it, he realises that maybe that was a bit too much, but before he can doubt himself too much, or do something incredibly stupid like take it back, Tony has gotten out of his seat and is hugging him fiercely.  
“I never thought I’d get this lucky”, he says into Bucky’s neck, and he can’t help but smile, holding Tony close.  
“I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one here.”  
When Tony pulls back then, and finally kisses him without any doubt that he wants this, Bucky decides that taking this job was the best decision he ever made in his life.


End file.
